Poems Found in Translation: “Berish Weinstein: Lynching (From Yiddish)” plus 1 more |
Posted: 07 Nov 2016 04:57 PM PST
The lynching poem is something of a thematic mini-genre of leftist Yiddish American poetry from the first four decades of the 20th century. The mood of the Yiddish lynching poem is as a rule not lamentation so much as anger (whether at the lynchers, at oneself for not stopping them, or both) often mixed in with, or expressed as, irony, sarcasm and embitterment. Literally putting the "gallows" in gallows humor. Berish Weinstein is not not alone or the first in comparing the lynched black to crucified Jesus. But his use of this theme in poetry dealing with black Americans is consistent thread tying together a number of his poems.
Crucifixion and Jesus motifs are an interesting and much-developed theme of Yiddish literature, about which much had been written, and more still could be. As opposed to the Christian perception of the cross as a symbol of piety, reverence and sanctity, to say nothing of the unquestioned divinity of the man who died on it, the Yiddish artistic approach to the cross (formerly an object of fear) may be ironic, subversive or cautiously syncretic. Not infrequently, especially early on, it leads to points about Christian hypocrisy (the professed universal love of Christianity belied by Christian hatred and persecution of Jews) with the Jewish people standing as a Jesus figure. The fact that Jesus was himself Jewish, that Christians often view their own sinfulness as spiritually implicating them in Jesus' death, meant that Jesus and the Cross were an obvious and ready-made object of ironization and source of literary stimulus as soon as taboos on Christian themes started to loosen in the 19th century. Since then, everybody and everything from the Jewish people, to Mozart to an evening landscape, has wound up on a metaphorical cross at some point in Yiddish (and modern Hebrew) literature. Lynching By Berish Weinstein Translated by A.Z. Foreman Wild white hands with a spare rope snare you. A July Tree crucifies your Negro neck; In its heavy ripeness, in its full blossom. In the utmost green of leaves the branch can bend So as not to snap under the noose's weight. The sun stains spots upon your neck — the fingermarks of the hangman. The leaves break out in dew as ever, swaying gently as ever. They do not feel that they are shaken by the winds of a hanged man. Black you hang in your flayed rags. Your stigma's pang dies open and young. Your extinguished lips sag coarse and thick The dazzle of your strong teeth mouthing a mute challenge to all eyes. Your singing prayer so woefully wept to God. He can't appear to you now, he is gushing from his split legs, his nailed hands. He can't even open up an eye with a tear for you, Or take your last words as your last confession1. He's crucified Himself. Negro! Your body blossoms on a summer day although you hang, although you no longer see the sun, Your wife whose evening bed is a back doorstep in an alley, Or your father counting bits of tallow each morning in a meat-wagon. Negro, the fate of destruction did not fall on you alone. Many, yeah, many are dying like you. Death like this is all the rage. They're dying like this everywhere now From the German ghettos to Carolina.2 1 — The term לעצטע ודוי létste vÃde refers to Jewish confession, which differs from Christian confession in several respects. It does not for example require a third party to be present as witness, though they may be present if the sin was against another person. There is a special death confession one is to make if one knows one is about to die. The Talmud specifically cites convicts sentenced to death in this regard. If one has nothing specific to confess when the moment comes, one says ×ª×”× ×ž×™×ª×ª×™ כפרה על כל ×¢×•×•× ×•×ª×™ t'hey misósi kapóro al kol avoynóysay "Let my death be an atonement for all my sins." But the lynched man's sins are not the ones that need atoning for. (There are a number of Hasidic legends about Rabbis voluntarily submitting to execution in order to atone for the sins of others, for their communities, or for their entire generation, when they themselves were in no need of atonement. The lynched man, too, is being executed for something he probably did not do.) This also draws him into parallel with Jesus. Jesus' final prayer, though, was ×לי ×לי ×œ×ž× ×©×‘×§×ª× ×™ "my god my god why have you forsaken me." Here too, God is ineffectual. The actual Jesus cannot come to the aid of this metaphorical one. He is dead. They both are. This death is completely senseless. 2 — The original has "In Wedding, in Leopoldstadt and in Carolina..." the former two refer to Jewish ghettos in Vienna and Berlin, and which had recently (this poem was published in 1936) been the sites of anti-semitic massacres by a new, ascendant and troubling German faction known as the Nazis. In my translation I've tried to give some sense of the Jewish-Black equation, by referring to German ghettos. Ghetto has come to mean "black slum" for Americans. A reminder of the sense the word had for Weinstein, and the analogous terms in which he treated Jewish and Black suffering, seemed fitting. In the 1949 edition of Weinstein's collected works, this line is removed from the poem, and the one before it edited slightly, probably in part because the poet thought the reference had now become dated. But it is also in line with a general post-Holocaust turn from Jewish universalism toward Jewish particularism. In the 30s, it was common in Yiddish letters to relate black suffering in America to Jewish suffering in the Old World. (And thou shalt remember that thou too wast a slave...) By the end of the 40s, this was becoming increasingly unfashionable. The Original:
×œ×™× ×˜×©×™× ×’
ס׳פֿ×ַרציקן דיך ווײַסע ×”×¢× ×˜, ×”×¢× ×˜ מיט ×Ö· ×’×¢×¤Ö¿×•× ×¢× ×¢× ×©×˜×¨×™×§,
×ון ס׳קרייציקט ×Ö· יולי-×‘×•×™× ×“×²Ö·×Ÿ × ×¢×’×¢×¨×™×©×Ÿ ×”×ַלדז;
×ין זײַן שווערער רײַפקייט, ×ין זײַן פֿולער בלי××•× ×’.
×ין דער ס×ַמער ×’×¨×™× ×§×™×™×˜ פֿון בלעטער ××™×– ×”×ַפֿטיקער די צווײַג
×–×™ ברעכט × ×™×©×˜ ×ָפּ ××•× ×˜×¢×¨ דער פּעליע.
דער זון ×Ö·× ×˜×§×¢×’×Ÿ קלעקט דײַן ×”×ַלדז מיט ×¡×ž× ×™× ×¤Ö¿×•×Ÿ ×ªÖ¼×œ×™×•× ×¡ ×¤Ö¿×™× ×’×¢×¨.
בלעטער של×ָגן ×ויס ×ין טוי ווי ×ַלעמ×ָל, ×ון רירן זיך ×œ×™× ×“ ווי ×ַלעמ×ָל;
×ון ×–×™×™ פֿילן × ×™×©×˜ ×Ö·×– ד×ָס טרייסלט ×–×™×™ ×Ö· ×•×•×™× ×˜ פֿון ×Ö· ×’×¢×”×Ö¸× ×’×¢× ×¢×.
×”×¢× ×’×¡×˜ שוו×ַרץ ×ין ×’×¢×©×™× ×“×¢× ×¢ קליידער.
די ש×Ö·× ×“ ×“×²Ö·× ×¢ שט×ַרבט ×ָפּ ×ָפֿן ×ון ×™×•× ×’.
גר×ָב שווערן ×ַר×ָפּ די פֿ×ַרל×Ö¸×©×¢× ×¢ ליפּן
×ון פֿ×ַר ××™×˜×œ×¢×›× ×¡ ××•×™×’× ×©×˜×•×ž×˜ דער ×‘×œ×¢× ×“ פֿון ×“×²Ö·× ×¢ שט×ַרקע ציין.
×’×ָט פֿ×ַר ועמען ס׳ה×ָט געטרערט דײַן ×–×™× ×’×¢× ×“×™×§ געבעט ×ַזוי טרויעריק,
קען זיך פֿ×ַר דיר ×Ö·×¦×™× ×“ × ×™×©×˜ ווײַזן, ס׳שפּ×ַרן ××™× ×“×™ פֿיס, די ×¦×•×’×¢× ×ָגלטע ×”×¢× ×˜,
ער קען ×ַפֿילה × ×™×©×˜ ×ַן ×ויג ×¢×¤Ö¿×¢× ×¢×Ÿ מיט ×Ö· טרער × ×ָך דיר,
×ָדער ×Ö¸× × ×¢×ž×¢×Ÿ ס׳לעצטע וו×ָרט ×“×²Ö·× ×¡ פֿ×ַר ×Ö· וידוי, ר׳××™×– ×ַליין געקרייציקט.
× ×¢×’×¢×¨!
ס׳בליט דײַן גוף ×ין ×Ö· זומער-ט×ָג ×›×ָטש דו ×”×¢× ×’×¡×˜, ×›×ָטש דו זעסט די זון × ×™×©×˜ מער.
ס׳ווײַב ×“×²Ö·× ×¡ וו×ָס בעט ×ויס ×יר ×Ö¸×•×•× ×˜ ×ויף ×Ö· זײַטיקער שוועל ×ין ×Ö· ×’×ַס.
×ון ×“×¢× ×˜×ַטן וו×ָס ציילט שטיקער חלבֿ ×יטלעכן פֿ×ַרט×ָג ×ין ×Ö· ×™×ַטקע- וו×ָגן.
× ×¢×’×¢×¨, × ×™×˜ ×ויף דיר בלויז ××™×– געפֿ×ַלן דער גורל פֿון פֿ×Ö·×¨×œ×¢× ×“×•× ×’.
×Ö· סך, ×Ö· סך, שט×ַרבן ×ַזוי ווי דו, ×Ö·×–×Ö· טויט ××™×– ×יצט ×Ö· מ×ָדע ×Ö·×–×Ö·.
×ַזוי × ×ַך שט×ַרבט מען ×”×²Ö·× ×˜ ××•×ž×¢×˜×•× â€” — —
×ין ×•×•×¢×“×™× ×’, ×ין דער לע×ָפּ×ָלד-שט×ָט ×ון ×ין ק×ַר×Ö¸×œ×²Ö·× ×¢.
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Posted: 07 Nov 2016 02:53 AM PST
The poem excerpted here was written in 1923 in response to growing anti-semitism in Poland. Greenberg published it in Berlin. His previous publication attempt in Poland had been seized by censors for anti-Christian content.
From the Opening to "In The Kingdom of the Cross" By Uri Tzvi Greenberg Translated by A.Z. Foreman A black forest grows so dense out of the flatlands. Such deep valleys of misery and horror out of Europe! The trees are misery-headed, wild with darkness, wild with dark. The dead are hanged on their branches and their wounds bleed as ever. The heavenly dead have faces of silver And the moons pour such a golden oil on the mind; And when anyone shrieks of pain their voice is a stone in water. And the sound of praying bodies is but teardrops into a chasm. I am the owl, the mourner bird in the misery forest of Europe. In the valleys of grief and terror, in purblind midnights beneath the Crosses, I want to raise a brother's plea to the Arab peoples of Asia: Come and deliver us out to the desert, lowly though we be. But mine is a sheepish flock, for the half-moon is swinging down Like a scythe against our throats. So I complain for no reason against the horror, I world-heart in Europe. And in the misery forest the sheep lies down with throat outstretched And I the world-wound in Europe, I spit my blood upon the Cross! (The old men tremble, and the young tremble with watery heads in the misery forest.) Two millennia burn in the chasm beneath the trees in silence, Such a poison as lies in the chasm accumulating — and I don't even Know WHAT IS WRONG. Two thousand years of bleeding and silence And not one gob spat back against their poisoned spittle. Books there are in which the Goyim's murders have been written But our answer is unwritten there, our answers to the murders. So big those misery forests have grown, and the trees are all misery-headed Wild with darkness; what terror when the moon peers down! And when anyone shrieks of pain their voice is a stone in water. And the bleeding of the slain is like dewdrops into the ocean. Great Europe! Kingdom of the Cross! The Original:
×Ö· שוו×ַרצער וו×ַלד ×Ö·×–×Ö· געדיכטער וו×ַקסט ד×Ö¸ ×ויף ×“×¢× ×¤Ö¿×œ×ַכל×Ö·× ×“,
×ַזעלכע טיפֿע ט×ָלן וויי ×ון ×ימה ×ין ×ייר×ָפּע!
די ביימער ×”×ָבן ווייקעפּ ×¤Ö¿×™× ×¦×˜×¢×¨-ווילדע, ×¤Ö¿×™× ×¦×˜×¢×¨-ווילדע.
×ויף דפי צווײַגן ×”×¢× ×’×¢×Ÿ טויטע × ×ָך מיט ×‘×œ×•×˜× ×“×™×§×¢ וו××•× ×“×Ÿ.
(×ַלע הימלדיקע ×ž×ªÖ¿×™× ×”×ָבן ×–×™×œ×‘×¢×¨× ×¢ געזיכטער
×ון ×œ×‘Ö¿× ×•×ªÖ¿ גיסן בוימל ×ַזוי ×’×ָלדיק ×ויף די מוחותֿ – – )
×Ö·×– מען שרײַט ד×ָרט פֿון די ווייען ××™×– ד×ָס קול ×Ö· שטיין ×ין וו×ַסער
×ון ד×ָס תּפֿילה-טון פֿון ×’×•×¤Ö¿×™× ××™×– ×Ö· ×˜×¨×¢×¨× ×¤Ö¿×ַל ×ין ×Ö¸×¤Ö¼×’×¨×•× ×˜.
×יך בין די ס×ָווע, קל×ָגער-פֿויגל, ×¤Ö¿×•× ×¢× ×•×•×™×™×•×•×ַלד ×ין ×ייר×ָפּע.
×ין די ט×ָלן וויי ×ון ×ימה ×‘×œ×™× ×“×¢ ×”×Ö·×œ×‘× ×¢×›×˜ ××•× ×˜×¢×¨ צלמי×.
×יך וו×ָלט ברודערקל×ָג געהויבן ×¦×•× ×ַר×ַבער-פֿ×ָלק קיין ×Ö·×–×™×¢:
– קומט ××•× ×“×– פֿירן צו דער מדבּר, ×ַזוי ×Ö¸×¨×¢× ×•×•×™ מיר ×–×¢× ×¢×Ÿ!
×”×ָבן ×ž×•×¨× ×ž×²Ö·× ×¢ שעפּסן, ווײַל סע לייגט זיך ×”×ַלב-×œ×‘Ö¿× ×”
ווי ×Ö· סערפּ צו ×ž×²Ö·× ×¢ העלדזער – –
קל×ָג ×יך ×¡×ªÖ¼× ×זוי פֿ×ַר ×ימה ×”×ַרץ-די-וועלט-דורך ×ין ×ייר×ָפּע
×ון מיט ×ויסגעשטרעקטע העלדזער ליגט ד×ָס ×™×•× ×’×¢ ש×ָף ×ין ווייוו×ַלד – –
שפּיי ×יך בלוט ×ַריבער ×¦×œ×ž×™× ×•×•××•× ×“-די–וועלט-דורך ×ין ×ייר×ָפּע. – –
(ש×ָקלט, ×–×§× ×™×, ש×ָקלט, ×™×•× ×’×•×•×ַרג, מיט די וו×ַסערקעפּ ×ין ווייוו×ַלד!)
צוויי ×™×Ö¸×¨×˜×•×™×–× ×˜ ×‘×¨×¢× ×˜ ×ין ×Ö¸×¤Ö¼×’×¨×•× ×˜ ××•× ×˜×¢×¨ ביימער ד×Ö¸ ×Ö· שווײַגן,
×Ö·×–×Ö· גיפֿט וו×ָס ליגט ×ון ×–×ַמלט זיך ×ין ×Ö¸×¤Ö¼×’×¨×•× ×˜ – ×ון ×יך ווייס × ×™×©×˜
ו ו ×Ö¸ ס ד ×¢ ר מ ×¢ ר × ×™ ×–: צוויי ×™×Ö¸×¨×˜×•×™×–× ×˜ דויערט ×‘×œ×•×˜×•× ×’, דויערט שווײַגן
×ון קיין מויל ×”×ָט × ×™×©×˜ געשפּיגן ×¤Ö¿×•× ×¢× ×’×•×ž×¢×Ÿ × ×ָך ×“×¢× ×’×™×¤Ö¿×˜×©×¤Ö¼×²Ö·.
×ון ×ין ×¡×¤Ö¿×¨×™× ×©×˜×™×™×˜ געשריבן ×ַלע מיתֿותֿ בידי גויי×,
× ×ָר דער ×¢× ×˜×¤Ö¿×¢×¨ ××™×– × ×™×©×˜×Ö¸ ד×ָרט, ××•× ×“×–×¢×¨ ×¢× ×˜×¤Ö¿×¢×¨ ×ויף די מיתֿותֿ.
×ַזוי גרויס ××™×– שוין דער ווייוו×ַלד ×ון די ביימער ×”×ָבן וויקעפּ
×¤Ö¿×™× ×¦×˜×¢×¨-ווילדע; ס×ַר×ַן ×ימה, ×Ö·×– ×œ×‘Ö¿× ×” קומט ×Ö· קוק טון!
×Ö·×– מען שרײַט ד×ָרט פֿון די ווייען ××™×– ד×ָס קול ×Ö· שטיין ×ין וו×ַסער
×ון ד×ָס בלוטיקן פֿון ×’×•×¤Ö¿×™× ××™×– ווי טוי ×ין ×™× ××•×§×™× ×•×¡ – –
גרויס-×ייר×ָפּע! מלכֿות-צל×!
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